Johnny Cash did what many people didn’t think was possible back
\nin 1994: he became hip with Generation X thanks to his album
\nAmerican Recordings<\/i>. Featuring just Cash and his guitar, he
\nintroduced many young people to a form of country folk which
\nregrettably is slowly dying – and he showed that same crowd just
\nhow special he could make it sound.<\/p>\n
Two years later, Cash returned the favor by taking a song from
\nGeneration X and giving it the ol’ country-folk spin on
\nUnchained<\/i>. While this album doesn’t work quite as well as
\nthe simplicity of
\nAmerican Recordings<\/i>, it still proves to be a worthwhile
\nfollow-up. (It also proved to be a testamonial to Cash that artists
\nlike Beck contributed songs, and otehr artists like Flea, Tom Petty
\nand Marty Stuart contributed as guest musicians.)<\/p>\n
Throughout the 14 songs on this album, Cash proves that as he
\ngets older, he just gets better – and it makes me sad that he
\nhasn’t been able to release more material of late due to illness.
\nYet his switch to a full band on
\nUnchained<\/i> still is a little bit of a shocker, even though I
\nwent into this album knowing not to expect a sequel to
\nAmerican Recordings<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the full band tends to dilute the sheer power Cash
\ncan have over the music – not that it becomes less enjoyable, but
\nit does become less hypnotic. Tracks like “Sea Of Heartbreak,”
\n“Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea” and “Southern Accents” fall prey to this
\n– though I admit a song like “Sea Of Heartbreak” probably wouldn’t
\nhave worked as just a guitar-and-vocal number.<\/p>\n
Serving as a duality, the full band sometimes pushes Cash to new
\nheights. Tracks like “Rowboat,” “Spiritual” and “I’ve Been
\nEverywhere” (the last track might sound familiar thanks to its use
\nin a gasoline commercial) challenge Cash to go even farther than he
\nmight have as just a solo artist, and he constantly rises to the
\nchallenge.<\/p>\n
I bought this tape a few years after it came out, and I had
\nforgotten that Cash had covered “Rusty Cage” from Soundgarden. At
\nfirst, it’s not quite recognizable – that is, until he kicks into
\nthe chorus. It’s not a note-for-note cover, but Cash does do some
\ninteresting things to the song – making it even more sinister than
\neven Chris Cornell could have ever dreamed the song to be. Even if
\nyou’re a purist when it comes to alternative music, Cash’s version
\nof “Rusty Cage” is an intriguing – and worthwhile – listen.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most surprising moment comes when Cash does his
\ncover of “Memories Are Made Of This,” a song your parents and
\ngrandparents probably know quite well. I seem to remember Dean
\nMartin making this song popular – and Cash’s version ranks up there
\nas well, even though I do miss some of the harmony backing vocals.
\nCash takes on this genre so well that it makes me think he could
\neasily front any type of band and excel. (Cripes, look what Shatner
\nis doing for PriceLine –
\nthat’s<\/i> a crime against nature. Put Cash in an ad, and he
\nwould kick Kirk’s ass. ‘Nuff said.)<\/p>\n
\nUnchained<\/i> is a little bit of a left turn for anyone who
\ndiscovered Cash through
\nAmerican Recordings<\/i>, but it proves to be a natural
\nprogression for an artist who has seen the ebbs and tides of many a
\ngenre. I don’t know if anyone who knows Cash is reading this – but
\nif there is, please tell Johnny there are people like myself
\neagerly awaiting his next album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5664],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36669","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-johnny-cash","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36669"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36669"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}